Late Arrival
by Malekyte
Summary: Paine has begun his assault on Konoha. Naruto has been summoned back from his training, but is he too late?


_**Disclaimer: I do not own, nor do I intend to own the source of Naruto.**_

_**Author's Note: If comments show interest in writing style, I will sequel this with the following finale, but ONLY IF comments are given. Accepting open-Beta. Credit given where due. Please enjoy.**_

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The destruction was endless. Paine's attack brought Konoha to its knees faster than gravity. Naruto went into a panic the moment he arrived, weaving through the decimated streets and scattered bodies. All of them; Dead; Every single one.

Tears clouded his vision, but were swept away by the wind as he sprinted towards Hokage tower. Shock was still making him dazed, but an absent feeling pulled him towards the high building. He bounded through a clearing, or more of a leveling of the buildings, jumping over rubble as quickly as possible. A glare off to the right pulled his attention, which he regretted immediately. Pinned against broken drywall was his own sensei. He wanted to stop, he wanted to stop so badly, he stumbled over another body who he wouldn't recognize as his own comrade Chouji. Instinct and an unknown devotion drove him further beyond all the care and concern he could feel.

There was no sense of control to things.

Hokage Tower was probably the only structure still fully intact, possibly a good sign to some outcomes. But nothing seemed very positive to Naruto right now. His speed slowly grew as he bolted through the last opening at the top of the tower. Four ANBU members sprawled out on the floor, unmoving. Granny Tsunade was nowhere to be seen. Only a black and red cloak stood facing the window.

Paine turned to face the boy, the apex of calm, or absolute indifference, no one could tell. Without a motion, another Paine opened an adjacent door revealing several badly injured shinobi. All alive, but in need of care. They were pinned by some scribblings on the floor. They all looked completely drained of energy and emotion when Naruto saw them. When some of them discovered the new arrival, they gasped in diluted hope. A couple began to quietly cry out of fear.

This was the end.

When Naruto saw the frightened and worried expressions from his family, he lost control. A quaking howl left his lungs as his vision turned dark. A red figure now completely consumed Naruto, lifting him off the ground as its own clawed form stood on the floor. The restrained nin could only watch as the red four-legged demon-Naruto twitched five tails.

Again there was no motion from either enemy, but a third Paine moved into view, grabbing one of Naruto's restrained friends, stabbing him straight through the back. Kiba's scream was more than enough for another tail to appear as the sadistic Paine found itself victim of the Kyuubi's grasp. The close proximity of the dense chakra burned at his clothes as the fox quickly ripped all his claws in opposite directions. Four separate pieces of Paine number three scattered the room.

This is when all the other Paines reacted, sending Naruto through a wall to fall the many floors to the ground. He never reached the bottom floor as the falling red fox flickered out of existence. For a long second, nothing dared to move.

A deep growling chuckle resounded from nowhere right before the demon fox reappeared by the imprisoned shinobi, taking a low, protective stance. A weak Kiba lay gasping for air as Sakura tried to manually stop the bleeding. There was no chakra available to help save him, and he was surely going to die.

All the Paines stood facing him from all angles, including the one recently ripped to several shreds, only showing singed holes fro his previous encounter. The Kyuubi backed close to his group, stepping in side the binding markings, and realizing why everyone was so weak. A large drain of energy pulled at Naruto, causing him to hesitate.

Paine attacked. From three angles came different attacks of multiple elements to which all hit Kyuubi. The encased Naruto cried out in pain, causing the formed boils on his skin to react faster. The demon wanted nothing more than to slowly burn these murderers, but Naruto's emotions were too strong to not protect his family at the same time...a flaw that could mean his defeat.

But it would matter little soon enough, the Kyuubi's essence was quickly dissolving Naruto and any final bindings which caged the beast. Then the true demon would be released, and everything would suffer its wrath.

Then suddenly, all but the trapped nin vanished out of sight. The group sat idly in horror as distant sounds of destruction tore through the air. When Kyuubi's form reappeared in the room, but the sounds of destruction continued elsewhere, they became oddly confused. The demon, now wielding seven deadly tails, blew apart the binding seals with an overload of chakra, pulling a large weight off its victims. He then moved to Sakura, who became very frightened ad the demon's intimidating figure. Naruto's sly grin from within the red prevented her from recoiling in fear when the form hovered a claw above her back. Proximity pain initially shook Sakura, but after she realized what was really happened, she went to work.

Over the barely breathing Kiba, Sakura went to using her newfound energy to close the wounds and saving his life. The damage was severe, and vital, blood had been lost, and some damage would always remain. From the vast reserves she was given, she ventured out into more drastic measures of healing, using the energy to mend tissue, strengthen the remaining blood, and restore life. When Kiba had noticeably stabilized, she moved to the others lying helpless in pain, the demon following behind with its hovering claw. Tsunade was part of the collection of victims, but was unconscious the entire time. Sakura had set after her needs as she tried to repair the Hokage's lungs when her vault of energy wavered. Glancing back, the demon twitched an eighth tail as Naruto's physical form silently cried in pain. Hurry, was all she felt.

Then the demon-clone disappeared in a crash of nothing. Silence took complete control. Even the distant battle noises had completely stopped.

This was the end.

Sakura gathered the few remaining survivors in the room and went to the window where the source of the noise could have been seen. Kiba, Hinata, Shikamaru, Shizune, Neji, and Sakura stood blank at the settling debris.

Hokage mountain no longer existed. In its place, burned into the mountainside, was a giant seal with a small blond boy held in the center. The six viewers couldn't notice details at their distance, but they still didn't see the image of a reaper hovering above the boy with a knife in one hand, and several struggling souls of Paine in the other. They watched, blindly, as the vision of the reaper vanished out of existence.

And what they would soon find out, is that Naruto was still alive. Proving that even demons can care.

This is the beginning.

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Author's Note: Comments and criticism are greatly appreciated as they make the world go 'round.**_


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